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Butterflies, by EifiE review
A track-by-track review of Buterflies, by EifiE On the opening track, Daydream Death, high-pitched ambient synths are accentuated by droplets of even higher pitched synth notes falling down on the listner like drops of rain. At times, however, these droplets can seem like chinese water torture, as the high resonant frequencies of otherwise ambient synth notes grate at the ears. However, this is not nearly as bad as the constant high-pitched ringing of the ambient synths, although if one can get over the headache of this, the track is very relaxing. A bit into the track, low-pitched drums break in, which sound like the slow beatings of boarskin at some solemn tribal observance. This, combimed with the synths, creates a very primeval sound, almost as if one is listening to the song of a world's creation. And perhaps the title, Daydream Death, could be interpreted as one dying in their daydream as they create a whole new world in their head. Despite its flaws, this track is a very soft and spiritual opening to the album, if you can get around the grating overtones. The second track, White Dress, is composed of rain, piano, sparse acoustic drumbeats, and dream-pop vocals. It takes one to a place that is a cross between an area in Yume Nikki and an empty street with a sad, lonely girl walking down it without an umbrella. This track is probably my favorite of the album, because it creates a sense of true lonely, fragile, hazy beauty with its echo-y layers. Unlike the first track, the high-pitched piano does not grate, but soothes, along with the unevem drums, beating like an unsure heart. Near the end of the track, the piano descends in to dissonance in the background, making a fitting close to a heartbroke but beautiful track. The third track, Forest Lights, continues the rain-in-the-background motif, and features repeating ambient synth and piano lines throughout the track, like the first track, with grating overtones, but still overall relaxing. This track, however, feels a bit hollow due to the shortage of percussion throughout most of it. Although there is a soft solid bass drum heatrbeat for the first part, and acoustic drums do eventually break into the mix, they are lethargic, simple drum beats that don't do the ambient track justice. Although this may be due to this reviewer's bias towards ambient and less agressive-leaning breakcore/breakbeats, the use of sparse and tricky electronic beats low in the mix throughout this track would have added a foundation that it simply didn't have. The repeated, almost echoed, simple melodies had potential, but it felt as of they were resting on nothing, and this track definitely felt like there was a part of its heart it was missing. To see how breakcore rythms can contribute to the solemnity of a track, I would reccomend EifiE listen to Goreshit's track "O'er the flood," and to Aphex Twin's track "Vordhosbn." The fourth track, Bloom, however, succeeds on the percussion front, with a hip-hop beat above distorted and high-pitched sounds. The acoustic bassline is a nice touch. There is far less for me to criticise on this track, yet although it has less technical shortfalls, it fails to have the same emotional impact as the previous three tracks, despite its technical superiority. The ears only slightly ring with the overtones, but perhaps that is because they have become used to them by now. On the final track, Lilin, piano chords are played over gloomy, deep synths and unnerving deep noises that rise from the deeps below. These soon subside, however, leaving only the sensitive piano behind. At just over a minute, it is a short end to a short album. At several points the pianist seems to lose their tempo, which gives an unprofessional blemish to an otherwise solid track. Despite being solid, however, one wonders why this track was chosen to end the album. There is really nothing about it that says finality. Despite its flaws, Butterflies, by EifiE, manages to be a quite well-produced short nap-dream that takes one to a land of lonely girls in the rain and lepidoptera fluttering through the haze of one's conciousness. I would reccomend listening to it if you want a laid back, dreamy listen that will hopefully soothe and perhaps create vivid imaginationscapes as it did for me. 7.5/10, reccomended listen. Category:Electronic Category:Ambient Category:Dream Pop Category:Chillwave